300 (film)

300 is an American peplum co-written and directed by Zack Snyder , released in 2007 . From the graphic novel 300 by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley , the film gives a fantasticviewof the Battle of Thermopylae in -480 and was shot largely using the technique of inlay to render the imagery of Frank Miller’s comics.

In the weeks before and after its release, the film raised controversy over the portrayal of the Persians in the international context of tensions between the United States and Iran. Despite this controversy and shared criticism, the film was a huge commercial success.

A sequel, 300: The Birth of an Empire , directed by Noam Murro , was released in 2014 .

Synopsis

Related articles: 300 (comic) , Battle of Thermopylae and Laconism .

Leonidas became king of Sparta following the Spartan ritual tests which he triumphed. He learns from a Persian messenger that King Xerxes plans to invade Greece and submit his city but refuses to negotiate any arrangement. Against the advice of the Persian gold-spoiled ephors , he sets off to meet the enemy with the 300 best soldiers of his city, and is joined on the road by Daxos and his Arcadians . Leonidas chose to fight the Persian army in the narrow and rocky passage of the Thermopylae , called the Hot Gates in the film. He refuses to enlist Ephialtes, an exiled Spartan, because this one, hunchbacked, can not lift his shield properly because of his handicap on the back and the neck.

Faced with the gigantic army led by King Xerxes in person, the resistance is heroic but desperate. Xerxes, struck by the heavy losses suffered by his army during the first attacks, tried to win Leonidas to his cause but suffered a failure. He then sends his best warriors, the Immortals , these being also repulsed by the Spartans. But Ephialtes, bruised by the refusal of Leonidas, reveals to Xerxes the existence of a secret path that bypasses the Thermopylae. The Arcadians retreat upon learning the news and Leonidas, aware that his fate is now sealed, sent Dilios, one of his warriors, Sparta with order to narrate the story of the sacrifice of his comrades.

Meanwhile in Sparta, Queen Gorgo , wife of Leonidas, faces the machinations of Theron, a politician in the pay of the Persians who seeks to remove Leonidas from his title for thwarting the ephors. Théron blackmails Gorgô and abuses her in exchange for the promise of her support when she pleads the cause of her husband before the Council of the city. But when the time comes, he accuses him of adultery and Gorgo stabs him to death. The dagger pierces Theron’s purse, and the falling Persian gold reveals his betrayal.

At the Thermopylae, the Persians surrounded the surviving Spartans and Xerxes demanded their submission. Leonidas pretends to accept before hurting Xerxes on the cheek with his spear. Leonidas and his men are then massacred. A year later, Dilios concludes his story in front of an army of Spartans, explaining how this valiant resistance touched the morale of the Persian army and pushed the Greek cities to unite, 40 000 Greeks now facing 100 000 Persians on the battlefield of Plataea .

Technical sheet

Unless otherwise stated, this sheet is based on the credits of the film.

Patrick Sabongui : the Persian general who tries to convince Leonidas at the end

Dennis St John : The Spartan in charge of checking the appearance of newborns

Robert Maillet : Uber, the giant Immortal

Leon Laderach : the Persian hangman

Tyrone Benskin : the Persian emissary

Tim Connolly : the father of Leonidas

Marie-Julie Rivest : the mother of Leonidas

Jere Gillis : a spartan general

David Francis : one of the Ephors

Deke Richards : a spartan soldier

Sources and legend : French version (VF) on Allodoublage 2 . Quebec Version (VQ) on Doublage Quebec 3

Production

Adaptation

Zack Snyder directed the film in 2006 . The film uses the same techniques as Sin City (also adapted from a comic book by Frank Miller ), with the massive use of computer graphics .

Even if all the scenes present in the original comic are faithfully reconstructed on the big screen, the scenario has been completed with some additional characters and scenes:

in the comics, Ephialtes , who ends up betraying the Spartans (and who is a sort of deformed monster in the film), tries to commit suicide when Leonidas refuses to make him a warrior. In the film, the scene was shot, but cut to the editing.

all the scenes taking place in Sparta that involve the queen and show the political intrigues within the city were added to reinforce the unique female role.

fantastic elements and various beasts like the rhinoceros have been added.

Shooting

The film was almost entirely shot on a blue and green background at the Ice Storm Studios in Montreal 4 . Only the scene of ride of the messengers at the beginning of the film, impossible to realize in studio, was turned outside.

Nearly 1,300 visual effects were required, an average of one visual effect per shot.

The actors underwent intensive sports training more than eight weeks before shooting began.

In this film, the actors Gerard Butler and andrew pleavin play together again, five years after their collaboration in Attila the Hun of Dick Lowry . Gerard Butler again had the leading role, while Andrew Pleavin played Flavius Oreste, a faithful general of Attila .

Home

Box office

The film grossed 456,068,181 $ worldwide including 210 614 939 $ just in the US 1 . It made 1,661,288 entries in France , 449,512 entries in Quebec and 150,062 entries in Switzerland 5 .

He holds the record of attendance in Greece with 325,000 spectators in 4 days.

Global box office by country of film 300 (in descending order)

Country

Box Office

Country

Box Office

Country

Box Office

United States

$ 210,614,939

Brazil

$ 11,207,791

Norway

$ 2,246,901

UK

$ 27,994,700

Mexico

$ 10,101,034

Belgium

$ 2,216,126

Spain

$ 20,762,055

Russia

$ 10,040,438

Venezuela

$ 2,030,133

South Korea

$ 19,902,209

Turkey

$ 4,861,226

Hong Kong

1,963,536 $

Italy

$ 14,618,081

Argentina

$ 4,587,738

Denmark

$ 1,942,519

Germany

$ 14,570,919

Poland

$ 3,091,535

Swiss

$ 1,851,658

la France

$ 13,900,000

India

$ 2,582,794

New Zealand

1,848,409 $

Japan

$ 13,036,817

Netherlands

$ 2,546,452

Thailand

$ 1,806,471

Australia

$ 12,304,031

Austria

$ 2,458,709

philippines

1,671,166 $

Greece

$ 11,376,293

Taiwan

$ 2,281,146

Colombia

$ 1,662,904

Home Review

The film receives 60% of positive reviews, with an average score of 6.1 / 10 and based on 223 reviews collected, on the website Rotten Tomatoes 6 . He scores 51/100, based on 35 reviews, on the Metacritic 7 website . In 2008 the magazine Empire has ranked in the 337 th place in its list of the 500 best films of all time 8 .

Controversy

Iranian Reviews

The film, although not broadcast in Iran , has raised criticism from the government and Iranian intellectuals 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 .

The criticism is about the travesty of reality, associated with a more political criticism: that of trying to undermine the image of Iran in a tense political context between this country and the United States .

Indeed, the representation that is made of the Persians in the Achaemenid period is false. This period is considered a golden age in the history of Iran , with in particular Cyrus’ Cylinder writing of what is considered the first human rights charter . In the graphic novel that inspired the film, the Persians are portrayed as a barbaric horde, decadent, opposed to the Greek nobles. In general, the film respects neither the costumes nor the Persian hairstyles of the Achaemenid era.

From a more political point of view, Javad Shamghadri, cultural advisor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , said that the United States was trying to change the historical reality in order to humiliate Iran, presenting the empire as a barbaric and stupid country. .

The daily Āyande No said in his pages that “the film depicts the Iranians as demons without culture, without feelings and without humanity, who think of nothing but attacking other nations and killing”, which newspaper likened to “a new effort to discredit the Iranian people and vis-à-vis civilization of international public opinion at a time when US threats against the Iran intensify” 15 .

Other reviews

Other critics have been voiced on various aspects of this film:

The newspaper The Arab American News speaks of “a rash war propaganda” ( mindless war propaganda ) 16 .

Ephraim Lytle, Hellenic history professor at the University of Toronto , wrote that “the way the film is selectively idealizes Spartan disturbing” 17 , including the fact that Xerxes I st is portrayed as bisexual ; and that the Persians are shown in a monstrous aspect, while the Spartans are men with the advantageous physique (except the traitor Ephialtes , a deformed monster too). The Ephors , who oppose the heroic action of Leonidas, are also hideous.

The idealization of certain elements in the film is also criticized by Touraj Daryāi, professor of ancient history at the University of California at Fullerton . He criticized the central theme of the film, namely the opposition between the “free” and “loving democracy” represented by the Spartans and the Persian warrior world 18 .

It may be added that the Athenians, whom the film describes as pederastal philosophers, have also played a major role in the medical wars, an aspect that is left in the shadows.

Other critics dwell on the fascistic aspect of the film. For Kyle Smith, of the New York Post , “The film would have liked to the Hitler Youth ( Adolf’s boys )” . Dana Stevens, in Slate , compares 300 to the National Socialistpropaganda film Der ewige Jude ( The Eternal Jew 19 ). Roger Moore, film critic for the Orlando Sentinel , considers the film corresponds to the definition given Susan Sontag of fascist art 20 .

In response to these criticisms, the director , the producers of the film and the author of the comic have underlined [ref. necessary] that this cinematographic adaptation of a comic strip is only a heroic fantasy version of the Battle of Thermopylae and that there was no historical aspect to remember from film 21 . In an interview inMarch 2007, Frank Miller , asked about the political situation in the United States, noted that the United States act as a declining empire, and that the great civilizations are never conquered but they disintegrate from within . He also claims that the war of the US empire against the Iraq , as the Second World War , is in a struggle against a fascist global 22 .

According to Florent Pallares, doctor of film studies and associate researcher at CRHISM, the statements of Frank Miller (co-producer of 300) date from 24 January 2007 23 and leave no doubt about the intentions of the film: “It seems obvious to me that our countries and the entire Western world are in conflict with an enemy who knows exactly what he wants – and we behave like a collapsing empire […]. I think part of it comes from our education. We are constantly told that all cultures are equal and that every belief system is as valid as another. […] For whatever reason, nobody speaks of those we are fighting and the barbarity of the VI thcentury that they actually represent. These people decapitate. They subject their wives to slavery and sexually mutilate their daughters. Their behavior does not obey any understandable cultural norm. […] Why did we attack Iraq? […] Well, we are attacking an ideology. Nobody asks why, after Pearl Harbor, we attacked Nazi Germany. It was because we were faced with a form of global fascism we do the same today ” 24 .

Analysis

Popular culture

Parody drawing of a movie scene.

Numerous parodies of 300 have emerged, usually based on the movie poster or the two iconic phrases ” This is Sparta! ” And ” Tonight, we dine in Hell! ” 26 . The film was the origin of an internet meme of embedding Leonidas’ head in images or videos accompanied by an often modified version of the phrase ” This is Sparta! ” Including music techno Sparta Remix whose instrumental was itself taken over in other videos 27 , 28. Other media also parodied the film, such as the short film United 300 who got the Movie Spoof Award at the MTV Movie Awards in 2007 . 300 has also inspired many television sketches , such as on Saturday Night Live , the Robot Chicken series , and in G-Win! , an episode of South Park . Parodic films were also made: Spartatouille in 2008 and National Lampoon’s 301: The Legend of Awesomest Maximus in 2009. Several allusions to the movie 300 exist in the movie Yes Man : Carl Allen praises this video, and later visits his former boss Norman, during a costume party with the theme 300 .

There is an allusion to 300 in the movie Asterix and Obelix: In Her Majesty’s Service . The Bretons push the Romans from the top of the cliff, as the Spartans do with the Persians.

In the film The Teachers , Polochon has his pupils reconstruct the Russian retreat in the classroom. A student gets up and shouts, raising his fist “Long live the Emperor!” “. The other students imitate him. One of them shouts “Ahou! “(The war cry of the Spartans) to everyone’s surprise.

These famous quotes from the film have been taken up by Spartans fans , nicknamed sports teams of Michigan State University , with singing Spartans, what is your profession? 29 .

Around the film

Next

Main article: 300: Rise of an Empire .

A sequel, titled 300: The Birth of an Empire ( 300: Rise of an Empire ), was released on March 5, 2014. The film is directed by Noam Murro starring Sullivan Stapleton as Themistocles , Eva Green as that of Artémise Ire and Rodrigo Santoro taking up the role of Xerxes I 30 .